Working vessel.



No. 760,457. PATENTED MAY 24, 1904, S. LAKE.

WORKING VESSEL.

APPLICATION FILED SEI'E'T. as. 1903.

N0 MODEL.

. v %12 mrmmWm Is Puma co. mow-Lune. wnsmnsmn, n c,

UNITED STATES Patented May 24, 1904.

SIMON LAKE, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

WORKING VESSEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 760,457, dated May 24;, 1904. Application filed September 28, 1903. Serial No. 174,899. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SIMON LAKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairlield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Working Vessels, of which the following is a specification, reference bein g had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates more particularly to an improvement in that class of apparatus for use in performing submarine work instanced in the partially-submergible composite vessel forming the subject of the United States Patent No. 7 38,206 granted to me September 8, 1903; and it has for its object to simplify the construction of such devices for use especially in the quiet waters of rivers and inland harbors.

The invention consists partly in a vessel of tubular form which mayor may not have its working chamber partitioned off into a separate compartment from the body of the structure and permanently ballasted sufliciently to cause its weight when equipped and fitted for performing its normal functions to slightly exceed that of the Water which it displaces, and also, in combination therewith, a primary floating vessel having a fore-and-aft well for housing said submergible vessel and means for supporting the same therein.

It further includes certain specific features of construction of the composite vessel thus formed, as well as certain other matters, which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is aplan, and Fig. 2 an elevation, the latter partly in section, representing a preferred form of the improvement. Fig. 3 is a side View, partly in section, and Fig. etan end view, also partly in section, of a diving-bell or working chamber and the connected portion of the access-tube, embodying a slight modification of the improvement as represented in the other figures. l I

In its preferred form, the improvement comprises a surface vessel or member 1, shown herein as a barge having a central fore-and-aft well 2, extending upwardly through the bottom, in which is normally suspended the submergible member, composed of the divingbell or working chamber 3, with adjacent airlock 4 and connected access tube or shaft 5.

The component members of the submergible member are shown formed each of a steel shell containing a lining 6, of concrete or artificial stone, serving not only to strengthen the walls of the same against collapse from external water-pressure, but to permanently ballast the same, so as to slightly overcome the natural buoyancy of the structure, with its contained apparatus, and produce a slight tendency of the same to sink to the water-bed under its own weight by the simple manipulation of the supporting chain cables 7 and rope cables 8, connected each atone end to an eye or staple 9 or 10, respectively, at the bow and stern of the submergible member, and connected at the other end to suitable devices upon the primary or surface member Lsprings 11 and 12, respectively, being interposed in the supporting-cables to provide yielding connections between such members to compensate for any slight motion of the surface member while its supported member is in working relation beneath the surface of the water.

The chains 7 are shown only of suflicient length to maintain the upper or forward end of the tube 5 permanently above the surface of the water within the well 2, being led up wardly from the fastening-eyes 9 over grooved rollers 13 at the edges of the well and toward the cleats or other holding devices 14:, between which and the adjacent ends of the chains are disposed the springs 11, while the hoisting rope cables 8 are shown led from the fastening-eyes upon the stern portion of the submergible member rearwardly over a roller 15 to two winches 16. each driven by itemspective engine 17 and operated in a wellknown manner for raising and lowering the divers compartment or working chamber constituting the operative end of the tube 5.

The forward end of the access-tube is provided upon its upper side with a hatch 18, adapted to be closed by a cover 19, by which access may be had to the structure from above the surface of the water, whether the latter is in working or in inoperative relation to the vessel 1, a ladder 20 being provided adjacent the hatchway and cross-rods 21 being secured at intervals along the bottom of the tube for use in conjunction therewith to enable the crew to pass easily from end to end of the tube regardless of the inclination at all times.

As shown and described in my former patent, the tubular portion 5 is in communication at its rearward or after end with the air-lock 4, having the usual doors 22 and 23, opening, respectively, into said portion 5 and the divers compartment 3, and the usual air-supply pipe 24, having the valves 25, with the various other necessary apparatus commonly furnished in apparatus employed for submarine work, may be provided for like use.

The vessel 1 is shown with its hold divided by means of partitions 26 into several separate compartments accessible by means of hatches 27 for the reception of cargoes raised from beneath the surface by the usual apparatus employed for such purpose and which is not shown herein, as it forms no part of the present invention.

In operation the composite vessel is towed to the location in which the required submarine work is to be performed and is there securely moored, preferably by means of both bow and stern lines 28. The cables 8 are then unwound from their respective drums and the diving-bell portion of the submergible member allowed to sink to the desired depth beneath the surface, resting upon its supportingwheel 29 when it touches the water-bed, the divers and other workmen passing through the hatch 18, tube 5, and air-lock 4: into the working chamber 3, whence the divers may pass outward by either of the bottom doors 30. Compensation is aflorded for any slight movement of the vessel 1 by the roller 29, which permits a slight motion of the lower end of the auxiliary submergible member upon the water-bed, in conjunction with the springs 11 and 12, forming parts of the flexible supporting devices comprising the cables 7 and 8, respectively. When suitable apparatus is provided in the auxiliary member, its forward end may be supported by cables connected with winches similar to those at the stern, and the hatch 18 having been closed and sealed water-tight the forward end may be also lowered to the water-bed and both ends temporarily disconnected from their supporting-cables to enable the surface member to be sent to discharge its cargo, or for other purposes, while the submarine work continues, the hoisting-cables being reconnected to the submerged member upon the return of the vessel 1 and communication with the surface reestablished by the raising of one or both of its ends and removal of its hatch-cover 19.

Bythe provision of the windows or deadlights 31 the working chamber (which may or may not be separated from the adjacent portion of the tube, 5 as circumstances may require) may be employed merely for purposes of inspection, in which case the bottom doors 30 could readily be dispensed with without impairing the effectiveness of the structure for such purpose.

In the construction just described the rigid connection between the tube 5 and working chamber 3 renders it desirable to form the bottom of the latter convex and to provide more than one bottom door to suit diflerent degrees of submergence, and consequently of inclination in reference to the water-line.

In the modification shown in Figs. 3 and 4 the tube 5 is pivotally connected with the working chamber 3 and air-lock 4, which latter are built integral and are suspended by means of the cables 8, connected with eyes 10 intermediate the ends, so as to be maintained with a level floor in any position of submergence. In this form of the improvement one end of this structure 3 L is formed centrally, with a recess 32 embracing the square rear or lower end of the connectingtube 5, which is provided with hollow lateral hubs 33, each passing through a stuffing box in a wall of the adjacent air-lock 4 and formed with partitions'34, having doors 35 leading each into one of the said air-locks, from which access is had to the divers chamber 3 by doors 36. In this modification, as in the preferred form of the improvement illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the tube5 forms a flexible connection, which may he maintained permanently between the working chamber 3 and the primary surface vessel 1 above the water-line in all inclinations of the tube or when the working chamber is hoisted up into the well 2 for movement of the composite vessel from one working location to another.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim herein is 1. A normally closed tubular structure permanently ballasted sufiiciently to destroy buoyancy and having a hatch at one end and one or more windows or dead-lights at the opposite end, and provided upon its exterior at both ends with means whereby the same may be supported at varying angles with the surface of the water.

2. A normally closed tubular structure permanently ballasted sufiiciently to destroy buoyancy and having at one end a hatch upon the upper side and at the opposite end a divers chamber or compartment with a bottom door for establishing communication with the exterior, and provided upon its exterior at both ends with means whereby it may be supported by external means at varying angles with the surface of the water.

3. The combination with a floating vessel, of an auxiliary non-buoyant structure comprising a divers chamber and a tubular shaft attached thereto having means for establishing communication between the divers chamber at one end and the exterior of the upper portion of said structure at the other end, and means whereby both ends of said auxiliary IIO structure may be supported externally from said vessel to sustain the said tubular portion in different angular relations with the waterline.

4:. The combination with a surface vessel provided with a fore-and-aft well extending upwardly through the bottom of the same, of a closed tubular structure having a working chamber in one end and a hatch in the upper portion of the opposite end, and means for sustaining said tubular structure within said well in different angular relations with the water-line of said surface vessel.

5. The combination with a surface vessel providedwith a fore-and-aft well extending upwardly through the bottom of the same, of

a closed tubular structure having a working chamber in one end and a hatch in the upper portion of the opposite end, and means for yieldingly sustaining said tubular structure within said well in difierent angular relations With the water-line of said surface vessel.

6. The combination with a surface vessel provided with a fore-and-aft well extending upwardly through the bottom of the same, of a closed tubular structure having a working chamber in one end and a hatch in the upper taining it within said well in different angular relations with the water-line of said surface vessel, and a winch carried by said surface Vessel to which is attached one end of each of the said cables connected to the operative end of said tubular structure for raising and lowering the latter independently of the opposite end.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SIMON LAKE. Witnesses:

HENRY J. MILLER, H. A. KORNEMANN, Jr. 

